Treatment of fibrous glass



Manzh'Zl, 1944.

H. w. COLLINS TREATMENT OF FIBROUS GLASS Filed Feb. 27, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Hawf/bzz/A/f ff ORN EY Mardi 21, 1944. H. w. COLLINS TREATMENT F FIBROUS GLASS -2 sheets-sheet 2 Filed Feb. 27, 1941 INVENTOR B owen/(aww ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 2l, 1944 2,344,601 TREATMENT F FIBROUS GLASS Howard W. Collins, Newark, Ohio, assigner to Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Application February 27, 1941, Serial No. 380,860

3 Claims.

example, insulating boards of very high density and of accurate predetermined dimensions which are resilient and tough and withstand flexing and deformation to a marked degree. Such insulating boards or bats are especially valuable for high temperature insulation. They afford good-loadbearing and other structural and physical properties while providing efllcient insulation.

At the present time, glass Wool is produced by attenuating streams of molten glass by means of a gaseous blast as described in the Slayter and Thomas Patent 2,133,236. 'I'he fibers thus formed are long, fine and flexible, and when accumulated in a mat, result in a resilient, fluffy product. Several methods have been employed to form this and similar mineral fibrous material into high density bats. According to one method, a mat of loose glass fibers is heated to a temperature at which the fibers are softened sufficiently so that they can slump under their own weight and compact into a higher density mat. At the temperature employed, the fibers fuse or partially fuse together at their junctures and thus become relatively fi'xed, resulting in a rigid, relatively nonfiexible mat.

Another method consists in placing a loose mass of glass fibers under relatively high compression to reduce it to the required density. Heat is applied to the fibers while the mass is held under compression so that the fibers lose their springiness and resilience and take a permanent set in the form they have been forced to take by the compression.

Both of these methods have limit'ations. The product of the first method is too rigid for certain applications. It may be injured by marked flexing or deforma-tion because the fibers in the bat fused or partially fused together are incapable of relative movement.

The second method has the disadvantage that the final density of the product is limited by the amount of pressure that can be applied to the fibrous mat in practice. For example, to obtain a finished bat of 12 pounds per cubic foot density, pressure of several hundred pounds per square inch is required to compress the loose mat. Any

mechanism employed to exert this pressure on the mat is subjected to the same high temperatures up to the softening temperature of the glass in the mat, which is usually in the neighborhood of from 900 to 1200 F. Such mechanism must be designed to maintain this high pressure throughout the time the glass is being heated. This presents serious problems in construction of apparatus and makes it impracticable to obtain the higher densities desired. Another disadvantage of this method resides in the fact that in attempting to forcibly compress the mat while cold to the extent required, many of the fibers are broken, thereby deleteriously affecting the coherence and other physical properties of the product. In still another method of producing compacted fibrous glass, as disclosed in British Patent No. 475,464, the fibers are heated to the softening temperature but short of the fusing or sintering temperature and the mass of fibrous material is then compressed between screens or by means of suitable rolls.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a highly efficient process for heating masses of fibrous glass to produce a fibrous glass bat or other product of substantially any desired density and configuration.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a process for heating the fibrous glass to the exact temperature required at a high rate. This is accomplished by applying the heat in at least two stages, in the first of which the temperature of the glass is brought up to a. point near but just short of the softening temperature, and in the second of which the final increment of heat is added to cause the glass to soften. In this Way, much better control of the final temperature is secured.

It is a still further object to enable relatively high velocities of heated air to be passed through the fibrous glass without disarranging the fibrous material, to greatly increase the rate of heating. The invention provides the passage of heated air through the fibrous glass in the first heating zone irr a direction urging the fibers toward a'conveyor or other-supporting surface so that high velocities of air may be utilized to apply large amounts of heat to the fibers while the fibrous glass is backed up by the supporting surface. In the second zone, where only small amounts of heat need be applied, the direction of'heated air through the fibrous glass is reversed, serving to provide uniformity of heating throughout the thickness of the fibrous body. Although the direction of the heated air tends to lift the fibers from the conveyor, little or no actual displacement or disarrangement of the fibrous body results because the velocities of the air may be relatively low andyet heat the fibers the small additional amount required in this second zone.

In the drawings: A

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic longitudinal sectional view of an apparatus adapted to perform the method of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the same taken on the line 2--2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a schematic representation on a greatly enlarged scale of a portion of a mat before treatment in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 4 is a similar view on a greatly enlarged scale illustrating the disposition of bers in the fibrous product of the present invention.

In accordance with the present invention, =brous glass in the form of a loose uffy mass is heated to a temperature at which the bers will take a permanent set when bent or otherwise deformed. This temperature may be dened as one approaching but preferably just short of the temperature at which all the bers in thev mass will fuse or partially fuse together. At this teinperature the bers are plastic but still able to sustain their own weight. While the bers are at this temperature the mass of fibrous glass is molded, shaped or compressed to the desired configuration or density and the product is then allowed to cool.

The glass wool is thus hot-molded into the required form without adverse effect on the physical properties of the wool. The temperature employed is below the fusion temperature of the glass, and the individual fibers remain separated and relatively movable, providing resilience and flexibility in the finished product. The bers are a'ble to sustain their own weightand the mat does not slump down so that substantially all the shaping and compacting may be effected by applied pressure. This permits an accurate control of the shaping desired.

The shaping or compressing of the plastic .'brous mass may be performed by a mold by which simple or intricate shapes may be imparted to the product, or by means of a pressing member of planular or other configuration, or by a roll or other suitable means.

In accordance with the preferred lform `of the invention for producing insulating boards, the plastic fibrous mass is fed under a roll by which it iscondensed and compacted to desired extent. 'I'he plastic fibrous mass may be reduced to any desired reasonable density by exerting only a relatively small amount of pressure thereon. After being compressed the mass retains the form imparted thereto by the compression roll so that it is usually unnecessary to maintain pressure on the mass after it is compacted and While it cools.

Glass wool may be molded in accordance with the present invention as a continuous process as it leaves the berizing apparatus. The fibers as they are formed are deposited on a moving arresting surface as shown, for instance, in the Slayter Patent 2,133,235, or the Simison and Collins Patent 2,189,840. The mat of bers coming from the fiberizing apparatus may be fed through a heated. chamber to be raised to the desired temperature and then molded. In making higher density products of substantial thickness, it is desirable to provide a greater thickness of loose Iwool by building up a composite mat from a plurality of superimposed glass wool mats and then heating and molding the composite mat. The molding process of the present invention substantially obliterates the lines of division between .the individual layers to provide a uniform, co-

speed of operation and upon the degree of compacting of the loose mass. The lower limit of this range is just above the temperature to which the glass bers may be heated without substantial effect on their natural resilience, so that a mass of glass wool at this temperature will resume its original shape after being deformed. The upper limit of the range corresponds substantially to that temperature just below which the bers will all, or substantially all, fuse or partially fuse together and the fibrous mass will compact and slump under its own weight.

In the manufacture of high density insulating boards, it has been found preferable to employ' a temperature in the upper part of the range, that is, one that approaches but is short of the temperature at which the bers will all fuse or partially fuse together. At this temperature, the fibers are sufficiently plastic to readily take a permanent set when deformed but are still capable of sustaining their own Weight as shown by the -fact that the mat substantially does not slump under the eect of gravity.

Working in the upper part of the range assures that thicker bers lin the mat will be softened sufficiently to permit their deformation and setting with the thinner fibers. Also, molding and compressing are carried out at lower pressures than if the temperature of the glass is in the lower portion of the range.

At the temperature employed a triiiing number of the fibers may fuse or partially fuse together, but this fusion is generally caused by limits of uniformity in the heating with the apparatus employed, and is preferably completely absent but may be present in such small proportions as not to affect the properties of the product as a whole. Temperatures resulting in large proportions of fused bers are to be avoided since `this olests many of the advantages of the present invention. It is necessary, therefore, to closely control the temperature so that it will .be within the range specified and preferably within the upper portion of the range.

After the fibrous glass is at the critical temperature, it may be shaped by means of molds or may .be pressed :by pressure mem-bers such as co acting rollers exerting relatively low pressures upon the brous mass. The pressure required varies with the temperature and the degree of softening of the bers but is considerably below the pressure required to compact the fibrous glass while cold.

It has been discovered that shaping and compacting the fibrous glass while heated to the temperature indicated produces a novel effect on the bers in the finished product. When the loose brous mass is compressed in any direction, the fibers extending in that direction or having major components in that direction, are buckled and curled by the compressive forces on the fibers. The affected bers are thus bent around bers extending angularly thereto and tend to mechanically interlock with these bers. This arrangement increases the coherence of the molded -brous mass.

A schematic representation of a portion of a loose fibrous glass mat is illustrated in Figure 3. The bers extend in more-or less haphazard relation. Some of them, for instance the bers 6 may extend in a generally'vertical direction and at an angle to some of the other and generally horizontally extending bers l. The fibers are looped and curved to some extent due to the manner in which the long flexible bers double back and forth as they areV deposited on an arresting surface during their formation.

When the mat is heated and molded in accordance with the present invention, and the mat is compressed in a generally vertical direction, the bers tend to buckle and bend under the compressive force applied thereto in the direction locked with each other impart sufficient coherence to the mat for certain uses but a small amount of binding material is preferably usually employed. The binding material need be present in amounts only suicient to bind the fibers in place at their hooked `and interlocked junctures 8. This prevents undue movement of the fibers at these points and increases the rigidity of the mass. The use of smaller quantities of or no binding material in the finished product retains in full or in large measure, the porosity, heat insulating value, and other properties of the pure brous material.

The apparatus illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 is adapted to carry out the nethod of the present invention and comprises an oven I0 divided by a transversely extending wall II into chambers I2, I3. The chamber I2 is arranged to be heated by means of burners l5 communicating with the interior of the oven through ports I6 in the side walls thereof. A blower i1 driven by an electric motor i8 is arranged to circulate air through the chamber I2, and has its outlet port connected by means of a conduit with an opening ill in the upper wall of the chamber. An opening 22 in the lower portion of one of the side walls of the chamber i2 is connected by a conduit 23 with the intake port of the blower. The air circulating downwardly through the chamber I? is heated by the burners i5 and, if desired, may be additionally heated by auxiliary burners in 'the conduits it and 23.

A foraminous conveyor is provided in the chamber i2 and extends substantially entirely across the Width of the chamber. The upper flight of the conveyor extends horizontally lengthwise of the chamber from an infeeding opening 3i in the front wall of the oven to an opening 3lv in the central wall II. The conveyor passes about rollers 33, 34 at the respective ends of the chamber I2 and over intermediate rolls 35, 31, either or both of which may be adjustable to permit adjusting of the tension on the conveyor. The upper flight of the conveyor is supported intermediate the rollers 33, 34 on aligned rollers 36.

The chamber I3 is heated by means of burners l0 directed through ports 42 in the side walls'of the oven. Air heated by the burners is circulated through the chamber I3 by a blower 5 driven by an electric motor 46. The blower has its inlet port connected by a conduit d1 with an opening H8 in the upper wall of the chamber, and has its outlet port connected by a conduit 49 with an opening 5I in the lower portion of the side wall blower 45 passes in an upward direction through the chamber I3.

A series of rollers 55 are arranged in alignment in a-horizontal plane extending across the chamber I3, with their surfaces preferably tangential to and beneath the plane in which the upper surl @ce of the conveyor 3l is located. The rollers 55 are supported on shafts 53 journaled in bearings 51 suitably supported at the outside of the oven.

A compressing roller 50 is located in the chamber I3 vertically above and in axial alignment with one of the rollers 55. A plurality of aligned rollers 52 may be Provided in rear of the roller 6l, each being located above and in axial alignment with one of the rollers 55. The roller 5I is mounted on a shaft 5I journaled in bearings 54 at the outside of the oven. The bearings 54 are preferably arranged to be adjusted vertically in suitable manner to adjust the roller 55 toward and from its coacting roller 55. 'I'he rollers 52 are mounted on shafts 55 which may be Joumaled in suitable bearings at the outside of the oven. these bearings being also preferably adjustable vertically to allow adjustment thereof toward and from the rollers 55.

of the chamber, so that the air circulated by the 76 Loose fibrous glass in the form of a continuous mat or, if dired, ln the form of separate bats. is fed by means of a conveyor l0. or by other suitable means, in through the opening 3l in the forward wall of the oven and onto the conveyor 3D. The mat is preferably a substantially wide web of loose brous glass that extends substantially entirely across the oven so that as lt is carried on the upper flight of the conveyor 33 through the chamber I2 and on the rollers 55 through the chamber I3 the greater portion of the air passing through each chamber is caused to pass transversely through the fibrous mass. A roller 'II located adjacent the front wall of the oven and suitably journaled to be vertically adjustable is arranged to contact the upper face of the mat to seal the opening 3|. As the mat moves through the chamber I2 it is heated by the hot air passing through the chamber and downwardly through the mat to'a point approaching but short of the temperature to which it is desired to finally heat the iibrous glass.

-Afterleaving the chamber I2 the mat enters the chamber i3 and is fed therethrough by the rollers 55. A roller' 'I2 rotatably mounted in a manner to be vertically adjustable is positioned adjacent thewall II. The roller contacts the upper face of the mat and acts to seal the opening 32. The temperature of the mat is increased in the chamber I3 to the final temperature at which it is desired to compress or otherwise shape the mat.

After being brought to this temperature, the mat passes beneath the roller 50, which has been set a predetermined distance from its coasting roller 55, and is thereby compressed and reduced to a sheet of the thickness required. The compressed sheet then moves between the rollers 62, and out of the chamber i3. The mat is thus permitted to cool in compressed form.

Suitable means are employed to drive the roller and therollers 55 to cause them to feed the mat through the chamber i3. Such means may be, for instance, electric motors havlng suitable driving connection with sprocket wheels 13, 'i4 respectively on the shafts 6I, 53. The rollers $2 may be driven in similar manner.

The rollers 52 are provided to assist feeding 'accomplished in the rst chamber.

the sheet through the chamber Il and are not required in the present instance to maintain the compact relation of the sheet and may be dispensed with if desired. The mat is conveyed from the oven on a conveyor 16er by other suit- .able means and may be subsequently treated in heated to approximately 1150" F. and the chamber I 3 may be heated to approximately 1250 F. The two chambers are employed to provide more accurate and ready control of the heating since it has been found that if the glass is heated in .the rst chamber to Just short of the desired temperature a more accurate control of the temperature in the secondchamber may be maintained. Further, the temperature of the rst chamber need not be maintained within narrow limits, so that expensive control equipment is not required for that chamber. If desired or found necessary .only one chamber may be employed or more than two chambers may be provided depending upon the rate of production and similar considerations.

Passing the heated air downwardly through the rst chamber permits greater speed and volume of the air since the mat is supported against downward movement by the conveyor. The vmajor portion of the heating may be thus 'I'he air in the second chamber is passed upwardly through the mat to assure uniformity of temperature of the mat. Since a small portion of the heating need only be eected in the second chamber, the speed and volume oi' the heated air may be maintained below that tending to lift the mat from the supporting rollers in the second chamber.

In the production of insulatingboards by themethod of the invention, glass wool of from 1% to 3 pounds per cubic foot density may be heated and molded as herein described. These densities are those resulting most commonly from the commercial production of glass wool but the invention is, of course, not to he considered as limited thereto. The glass wool is fed into the'heated'oven in the form of mats or bats of a thickness sufficient to provide a finished board of desired dimensions and density.

To form a glass wool board of 12 pounds per cubic foot density, a mat of glass wool of 1*/2 pounds density and 8 inches thick, for example, may be heated and molded in accordance with the present invention to form a finished sheet 1 inch thick and of 12 pounds density. This sheet 'is sufficiently coherent to maintain its form during handling without the aid of binding material ldue to the manner in which the bers in the molded sheet are deformed and interlocked as previously described. It is resilient and exible because the fibers themselves are not fused together but are relatively movable.

Various other sizes and shapes of molded fibrous glass may be made having widely different densities, the densities obtainable being substanasa-gooi tially unlimited, since the force required in the present method to compress the fibrous glass is only a fraction of that required to compact the fibrous material when cold.

Heating the glass to the temperatures of the present invention serves an additional useful purpose. Any oil or other organic adventitious matter that is present in the mat is burned out at these temperatures so that the bres are, in effect, heat-cleaned. Due either to the heatcleaning or to some other phenomena, the glass ber surfaces are apparently more receptive to treating and binding materials such as oil, bentonite, phenol formaldehyde, and the like, thereby increasing the effectiveness of application of these materials.

Various modications may be resorted to within the spirt and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The method of producing resilient, tough, dense mineral ber products, which comprises continuously passsing a loose mat of substantial width and composed of long, ne mineral bers into a heated zone and onto a support, passing heated air through said mat in a direction urging said mat toward the support to initially heat the bers to a temperature approaching but short of the softening temperature at which the bers are capable of taking a permanent set when deformed but below that at which the fibers fuse together at their junctures, then passing heatedJ air through said mat in the opposite direction to heat the bers in the ma# to the said softening temperature, passing said mat while at said temperature beneath a compressing roller to compress the mat in a direction transverse to its major faces and thereby compact said mat and reduce the thickness thereof, and passing the compacted mat out of said heated zone to permit it to cool in compacted relation.

2. The method of producing mineral ber products, which comprises passing a current of heated air through a loose mat of long, ne glass bers supported on a conveyor, in a direction transverse to its major faces and to urge the mat toward the conveyor to heat the bers to a temperature approaching but short of the softening temperature at which the bers are capable of taking a permanent set whenideformed, then passing a second current of air heated to a higher temperature than said rst-named current of air through said mat in a direction opposite to the movement of said rst-named current, to thereby heat the bers in the mat to the said softening temperature, shaping said mat while at said temperature to desired conguration, and cooling the shaped mat.

3. The process of producing resilient, dense boards of brous glass which comprises passing heated air through a loose, uiy mass of glass bers supported on a conveyor in a direction to urge the mass against the conveyor and heating the bers toria temperature approaching but short of the softening temperature at which the bers will take a permanent set when deformed but will not fuse together, then passing heated air through the mass in the opposite direction and raising the temperature of the bers to the said softening temperature of the glass, and compacting the mass of brous glass while at the latter temperature.

HOWARD W. CLLINS. 

